We’ve been living with my parents for about 2 1/2 months now and fucking hell oh my goodness, we need to get out.

It’s not that my parents are bad- I love them very much- but they are my PARENTS. I am an adult with a husband and child. I do not need to be treated like a teenager any more just because they can’t seem to remember that it’s been at least 10 years since I last acted “that way”. Plus, if I have to live with said husband and son in one tiny room stuffed with a king-size bed much longer? I’m gonna snap. That’s all there is to it.

So, we’re looking for places. But, hot damn! They’re expensive around here! In Pittsburgh (and I’ll grant you, it was PITTSBURGH and who but crazy people wants to live there?)(Side note- y’know the awful daycare lady who let Cole get hurt? It’s her Biggest, Bestest dream EVER to live in Pittsburgh. That should have been a clue from the start.) we were paying $550 for a two bedroom, one bath house with a back yard. Here we’re looking at $1300 for something comparable. I realize that there are lots of places where that rent is good or reasonable, but we live in the middle of NOWHERE. It takes an HOUR to get to a Costco or Target or a mall. And we don’t make that much money- the wages have not caught up with the cost of living here.

And don’t even get me started about trying to find a house that will let us have our dog. Damn dog. Why do I have to love her? It would be so much easier if I hated her.

We’ve also looked into buying instead of throwing away our money on rent. Right now, housing prices are so ridiculous that it’s not even an option. The available houses are STARTING at about $300,000 for something that should only be worth about $180,000, tops. That’s out of our range.

We’ve realized that we are in that section of families who make too much money to qualify for any kind of aid, yet not so much that we can really afford everything we need. It’s almost worse than being outright poor. Almost. It almost makes it worth it for me to quit and stay at home so that we would qualify for more things. Almost.

Always almost, but never just right.

And so, for now, I have to put up with a 1/2 foot walkway between my bed and the overflowing laundry; with no crib for my son; with parents who hate my dog; with a mother who thinks that she shouldn’t have to do any chores now that we’re here; with a father who lectures us about anything/everything that comes up.

It could be worse, I know. And I do love my parents and wholly appreciate what they’re doing for us- not all parents would do the same.

I don’t need to be rich. I don’t need everything I WANT. I just need to feel like I can take care of my family and not just live paycheck to paycheck. It’s a hard thing to feel like a medical emergency or car trouble or something like that could make it difficult/impossible to pay rent or buy groceries. It’s sad that a family could have both parents working at relatively good jobs and still be in this position.